Player-piano action



H. R. HELLER.

PLAYER PIANO Acnon;

APPLICATION FILED OCT- 23, 1919.

Patented Oct. 11,1921.

INVENTOR Hehry R. HeZZer, BY

ATTORNEY UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HENRYR. HELLER, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, TOAUTO PNEUMATIC ACTION 00., A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

rLAYEn-rIANo ACTION.

Specification of Letters "Patent.

Patented Oct. 11, 1921.

Application filed October 23, 1919. Serial No. 332,637.

- erence to means in combination therewith for adapting the same for usein combination with a player action adapted to be installed within thecase of a piano. Various other methods have been heretofore employed tothis end. In the Danquard Patent 766,601, the player pneumatics areprovided with a striker and plunger which lift the wippen. In the BrownPatent 581,390, a lug is glued to the abstract of the piano action andthis lug is forked at the base so as to permit a plunger attached to themovable part of the player pneumatic to engage therewith to lift theabstract, but this is open to the objection that in placing the playeraction within the case it is necessary to use great care in order to seethat each of the abstract lugs areproperly engaged by the connectionswith the movable parts of the player pneumatics and in the firstmentioned patent it is necessary to provide plungers for the movablepart of each of the player pneumatics and these must be properly guidedin order to properly operate upon the wippen. These objections areentirely overcome in my present construction as well as numerous otherobjections to be pointed out in various other previous arrangements ofthe player pneumatics in reference to the piano action.

In the accompanying drawings I have illustrated in Figure 1 a verticaltransverse section of the upper part of a player piano, showing anembodiment of my invention, parts being in dotted outline and partsbeing broken away. Fig. 2 is an enlarged detail slot 5 drilledlongitudinally to allow for the passage of the eye-screw 6 by which thelug l is attached to the abstract 3. 7 indicates another eye-screwadapted to penetrate the lug or bracket at right angles to theeyesc1'ew6 as shown, and may be provided at the lower end with thebutton 8 so that by rotating the lug or bracket 4: clockwise it issecurely screwed into the abstract 3, and the eye-screw 7 may be rotatedto adjust the projection of the button 8. This is the button thatprojects in the path of the movable portion 9 of the pneumatic so thatwhen the pneumatic is collapsed, it lifts the abstract 3 through themedium of the lug or bracket as shown to better advantage in Fig. 1.Thus it will be seen that by this arrangement no plungers or strikersare required between the operating pneumatics and the piano acengaged bythe upper pneumatics will all be in substantially the same positionsupon the piano abstracts, and those engaged by the second row ofpnuematics will be below the lugs engaged by the upper pneumatics, whilethose engaged by the bottom pneumatics will be secured to the pianoabstract still lower than the lugs engaged by the two upper rows ofpneumatics. The operation of the upper pneumatic is illustrated indotted outline showing the position of the piano abstract with its lugand wippen when said pneumatic has been collapsed, and the same ofcourse applies to all of the pneumatics of the player action.

From the foregoing it will be readily understood that by this simpleform of bracket or lug, a secure, durable and convenient form ofattachment may be applied to the abstracts of the ordinary piano actionin such a manner as to facilitate the introduction or withdrawal of theplayer action without connecting or disconnecting any of the parts. Oncethe various parts have been assembled and adjusted, they remain securelyin position so that the player action may be withdrawn or re-insertedquickly and with convenience, and it has been found that the tonequalities produced by striking with this arrangement of the action issuperior to the results obtained by other arrangements.

Of course it Will be understood that various modifications may be madein the construction and arrangementof parts without departing from thespirit of the invention as claimed.

I claim:

In a player piano having a self-contained piano and player action,projections and stops upon the abstracts of said piano action andprojections from the pneumatics of said player action adapted to travelin the path of said first mentioned projections for operating said pianoaction directly and pneumatically, each of said abstract projectionshaving a longtiudinal passage for a screw adapted to secure the same tosaid abstract and a transverse passage for another screw adapted topenetrate said first mentioned screw and for regulating the position ofthe stop of said projection with reference to said pneumatic projection.

In testimony whereof I hereunto aflix my signature in the presence oftwo witnesses.

HENRY R. HELLER. WVitnesses:

W. G. HELLER, VINCENT BISULK.

